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20 October 2016

Perth, Western Australia

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QUEENSLAND FOCUS

Big Tick for tailings op

Diatreme Resources Ltd lurgical test work studies
will pursue a standalone to obtain enough data to

tailings reprocessing opera- develop a resource model

tion for its Tick Hill gold pro- for the tailings material.

ject in Queensland following “We’ve assumed some

the release of a favourable very conservative num-

scoping report last month. bers in this initial study

According to the scop- and again we think we

ing-level study prepared by can improve on those

Metcor, the project can sup- from these metallurgical

port a 20-month operation reports,” McIntyre said.

processing tailings through “There will be some

a standard CIP/CIL cir- regrinding of the tailings

cuit at the historic Tick Hill required to fully liberate

mine, about 110km south- the gold and there’s some

east of Mt Isa. options available for us in

Diatreme announced terms of accessing even

earlier this year a maiden some used ball mills or

resource of 630,000t @ other such equipment.

1.08 g/t gold for 680kg Diatreme is eyeing a standalone tailings reprocessing operation at Tick Hill “We think there’s a vari-

(22,000 troy ounces) for the ety of options we can now

tailings material. potential development funding for Dia- pursue to get the model more commer-

No capital or operating costs were re- treme’s Cyclone zircon project in the Eu- cial and that’s probably going to take us

leased last month, but Diatreme manag- cla Basin, Western Australia. two or three months to get through the

ing director Neil McIntyre said the initial “We want to take advantage of the process.”

report had confirmed the commercial vi- fact gold has maintained and indeed im- McIntyre said his dealings with the

ability of a standalone tailings reprocess- proved its value in relative terms,” McI- Queensland Government had been posi-

ing operation. ntyre said. tive and he believed the authorities were

“Given the small size and scale of this “It’s one of the commodities that gets doing everything within their power to

project, it doesn’t warrant the full DFS well supported in the capital markets, it’s support the resources industry, particu-

route you would normally take for a $100 well understood, the Aussie dollar ex- larly juniors.

million project or pricing metric associ- change rate has been moving favourably “Certainly in our discussions there has

ated with that level of study,” McIntyre and so we think this is a good time to be been a clear refocus on the smaller end
told Paydirt.
getting this sort of operation up and go- of the market and trying to show support

“This minimises our risk and expendi- ing.” to get these projects up and running,” he

ture along the way. We’re very encour- Extensive drilling programmes, aimed said.

aged by this first report and we’ll defi- at finding out why the orebody abruptly “The Queensland Government has

nitely be burrowing in on those numbers, ended before the Tick Hill mine was established a couple of taskforces to

particularly on the capex and opex side, closed in 1995, were completed in the assess the mineral exploration and pro-

to get that final degree of certainty.” second half of last year and returned cessing companies in Queensland and

McIntyre said he was anticipating a positive results. they’ve obviously identified that the in-

start-up capex for establishing a new At the time of print, Diatreme and JV dustry is doing it pretty tough at the mo-

operation of “probably in the $8-9 mil- partner Superior Resources Ltd were ment, so they’re actively looking for ways

lion range”, but felt there were some finalising the last of a series of metal- to incentivise both exploration and the

“significant savings” to be made from establishment of mining operations.

cheaper professional services and “We participated in a major review

labour rates, including readily avail- some weeks ago about what could

able second-hand plant and equip- be done better to get some activ-

ment. ity back into the sector. We’ve been

A higher Australian dollar gold pleasantly surprised by their initiative

price encouraged Diatreme to in- and how proactive they’ve been.”

vestigate the potential of a tailings Meanwhile, Diatreme has appoint-

reprocessing operation at Tick Hill, ed consultants Sedgman Ltd to un-

which historically produced more dertake a project and enhancement

than 500,000oz of gold during the update study at Cyclone.

early 1990s. The final environmental approval

Based on a gold price near $1,700/ for the road to the proposed mine is

oz, the tailings reprocessing opera- slated to be put before the EPA this

tion is set to generate cash flow of month.

about $9.3 million, boosting share- The historic Tick Hill gold mine produced more than – Michael Washbourne
holder returns and providing some 500,000oz in the early 1990s

PAGE 52 APRIL 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Metallica rocking into
bauxite production

An initial supply shortfall of low ports to rectify environmental is-
temperature bauxite is ex-
pected this year, which is good sues and growing calls in India
news for Metallica Minerals Ltd in
Queensland. for bauxite to be reserved for do-

Metallica is preparing the Urqu- mestic use are also contributing
hart bauxite project, near Weipa,
on the Cape York Peninsula for factors.
production early next year.
“When you think about bauxite,
“We believe bauxite, specifi-
cally low temperature bauxite, is it is a metal that is part of eve-
in a good place from a macro per-
spective and we have a nice little ryday consumption rather than
project that fits a junior, so we are
trying to bring that into production infrastructure build out. We use
as quick as we can,” Metallica chief ex-
ecutive Simon Slesarewich said. it every day, more than what you

“It won’t be a massive project. We are would do steel, so as the world
looking at about 1.5 mtpa of saleable
product going into the market. We think grows we should see aluminium
it is a product that will be saleable every
day, but for a company of our size I guess The inferred resource at Urquhart is 7.5mt @ 51% consumption go up and on the
it is significant for us. It wouldn’t be sig- aluminium oxide and 16.3% silicon dioxide back of that we will see bauxite
nificant for a Rio [Tinto Ltd], for example.” consumption go up,” Slesarewich

Urquhart is not primed to be a world- ments out on that pretty soon,” Slesare- said.
beater, but from a 1.5-2 mtpa truck-
barge-ship operation, Metallica expects wich said. China alone needs more than 65 mtpa
to generate sustainable free cash flow
early on considering development capital Despite only planning on delivering a bauxite to be imported, rising to 75 mtpa
outlaid will be kept to a minimum.
small portion of the estimated shortfall of in the next five years to support its alu-
“From our side of things it will be a
very low capital start-up, we will be utilis- bauxite demand, Metallica is confident minium industry.
ing contractors and the logistics solution
which we will announce soon will mean its product will be highly sought after. With Urquhart being on the tip of
that there will be no capital involved,”
Slesarewich said. The forecast is for 68 mtpa shortfall Queensland, Metallica is ideally posi-

He said the company was currently fo- in supply of low temperature bauxite by tioned to feed into China and India.
cusing on community engagement as it
awaits approval of a mining lease. 2040, while immediate concerns in the Metallica almost has its ducks in line

Metallica expects to receive a mining industry centre on Indonesia’s ban on for its bauxite play in Queensland, while
lease approval by the end of the year.
The company has been through the pro- raw exports, which has stripped 40 mtpa its interest in commodity of the moment,
cess before, with a mining lease already
granted for the Urquhart Point HMS pro- bauxite from the global market. graphite, appears to be shaping up nicely
ject.
Malaysia’s three-month ban on ex- as well.
While the company is confident it will
have its bauxite credentials in hand, it is The Esmeralda project has the compa-
focusing on community and government
engagement and logistical solutions. ny excited by intersections such as 95m

In-house studies on logistics and load- @ 6.5% graphite from 71m and 29.1m @
out options have been completed, with
Metallica looking to de-risk the project by 7.8% graphite from 71.9m, including 7.1m
negotiating a binding agreement to utilise
infrastructure and access at Hey Point. @ 12.9% graphite.

“Bauxite being a bulk commodity is all A drilling programme was completed
about logistics, so we will work on that
and we should have some announce- on Esmeralda last year and Metallica

was set to release metallurgical test re-

sults at the time of print.

Slesarewich likened Esmeralda to the

Albany graphite project in Canada, which

has the potential to produce very high

purity graphite.

“That is what we are aiming to do

there,” he said.

“It is a unique deposit, it is a hydrother-

mal deposit. That means that the graph-

ite has come out of the magma source

of an old volcano rather than a metamor-

phic that has been heated up and pushed

around. We are spending so much time

on the test work to understand the geol-

ogy and the minerals involved so we can

get a better idea because it is not a typi-

cal [graphite] project.”

– Mark Andrews

Metallica expects to receive a mining lease
for Urquhart by the end of the year

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2016 PAGE 53

REGIONAL ROUNDUP AFRICA

Munro set to walk own path

New Bannerman Re- cash costs of $US38/lb,
sources Ltd managing down 17% on the previous

director Brandon Munro estimate.

knows there’s only one way Other key economics from

to fill the giant shoes left by the optimised study included

his popular predecessor a reduced pre-production

Len Jubber – find another capex of $US793 million

pair. (down 9% from the original

Munro returned to Ban- DFS), peak annual free cash

nerman last month after flow of $US392 million and

a five-year hiatus, having improved NPV of $US419

previously served as the million and IRR of 15% (up

uranium hopeful’s general from $US350 million and 9%

manager of corporate de- respectively).

velopment and in-country Munro was confident fur-

general manger in Namibia. ther improvements could still

Jubber stunned the re- be made.

sources sectors in both “The DFS was originally

Perth and Namibia with done in boom conditions, so

his shock resignation after Brandon Munro it doesn’t incorporate the im-

seven years as Banner- pact of Chinese equipment

man’s chief executive, citing a desire to years he developed strong ties with local that over the last five years has now

pursue other business interests. community groups, including serving as proven itself,” he said.

During his tenure, Jubber oversaw the a trustee of Namibia’s Save The Rhino “The results from the pilot demonstra-

completion of the Etango DFS and the re- Trust, which he hopes will roll over to his tion plant appear to be really good and

cent optimisation study, the building and new role at Bannerman. by the time this [article] goes to print we’ll

operation of the heap leach demonstra- “I think I established myself in country have released the phase three results –

tion plant and several corporate deals as someone who rolls up their sleeves and they haven’t been incorporated into

which allowed the company to clear its and gets the job done and when you’re the results released last year.

debts earlier this year. doing that, you have very substantial “I’ve got no doubt there are ample oth-

Munro, who co-founded Namibian- interactions with the different stakehold- er gains to be reviewed, all of which can

focused base metals explorer Kunene ers,” Munro said. be incorporated into the next round.”

Resources before its reverse takeover “Also helpful was that Bannerman Munro is also upbeat about the future

by a technology company late last year, stakeholders, who I got to know in 2009 of uranium, citing recent developments in

acknowledged it would be a challenge to and 2010, had the chance to interact with China and India as a potential catalyst for

replace such a respected industry iden- me on a very different basis and that has the sector to shake off the “demand slug-

tity but is equally determined to put his reinforced a high degree of comfort and gishness” which arose from the Fukushi-
“mutual trust that I can now return to.
own stamp on the company. ma disaster in 2011.
“I think the only way to deal with
“When you overlay the potential
that is not to try and fill Len’s shoes,
I’ll need to make my own path,” I think the only way to for large changes in demand that
Munro told Paydirt. would come from China acceler-

“Len’s left the company in really deal with that is not to ating its stockpiling programme or
good shape. The corporate trans- try and fill Len’s shoes, I’ll India preparing for a large-scale
commercial rollout, you can well

action he completed last year is a need to make my own path. envisage a very significant price
huge enabler for development and movement,” Munro said.

securing the right partner and al- “From an investor perspective,

though there’s more optimisation to we need to remember that the price

come, he shifted the needle significantly “Obviously the connection with Na- of uranium, as yellow cake, forms such a

on the DFS last year, which means the mibia is a big plus. Having put the last tiny proportion of the end-price of nucle-

timing for me to come in and wear slightly five or six years of my life into the mining ar power such that assets which have a

different shoes to the work boots Len’s industry in Namibia, the chance for me to strategic value like Etango are extremely

been wearing is ideal. reconnect was huge. And, of course, it well leveraged to improving ambitions in

“The shoes I’ll be wearing obviously means I can hit the ground running.” the nuclear sector.

relate more to my background in corpo- Bannerman released the results of an “If you look across the sector, certainly

rate and an emphasis on creating liquid- optimised DFS on Etango last November among the exchange-traded stocks out

ity and positioning the company well for – on the same day the company acquired there, I think you’d struggle to find a com-

when we have improved uranium senti- 100% control of its flagship asset – con- pany better positioned for an upturn in

ment.” firming the project could support produc- uranium than Bannerman.”

Munro was based in Windhoek while tion of 7.2 mlbpa over an initial 15.7 years – Michael Washbourne
running Kunene and during those five of open-pit mine life for lower operating

PAGE 54 APRIL 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

SAVE THE DATE

7 - 9 September 2016

Perth,Western Australia

www.africadownunderconference.com

For all enquiries please contact Tammy Caldwell on (+61) 8 9321 0355
or email [email protected]

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Nigeria slips into new thinking

There are few upsides for countries Professor Patrick Utomi It has got to be about people; when the
heavily reliant on oil revenues in the people grow, the country will grow,” Uto-
current environment. ing country with Australia, despite cor- mi said.
ruption being a major issue in the West
However, Professor Patrick Utomi, a African nation. For instance, Utomi said Nigeria need-
Nigerian professor of political economy ed to revisit its manufacturing strategy to
and management and former chief oper- Utomi said Nigerians wanted corrup- keep pace with the global competition.
ating officer at Volkswagen, Nigeria, said tion “tackled frontly” and that the new
the benefit of such an oil crisis was that Government, led by President Muham- “The old manufacturing ways wouldn’t
people were re-thinking about the econ- madu Buhari, has promised to address work in this world, so manufacturing has
omy and potential pathways forward for this issue. to take a conscious route back to its en-
the country. dowments. There are many value chains
“Corruption is systemic in Nigeria; you that are competitive globally and with
Utomi said mining was an industry the can’t go forward with this banner over that I think that we can see the diversi-
Nigerian Government was keen to ex- your head,” Utomi said. fied base of the economy and economic
ploit, however, there was not a quick-fix growth that is sustainable for the popula-
solution that could have an immediate “When you fight corruption, corruption tion,” he said.
impact. fights back.”
Helping Nigeria fulfil its potential will be
“This may take some time, usually the Stamping out corruption is one way of highly educated expats returning home
minerals and mining sector does take filling people with confidence in the Gov- after stints abroad.
time to build, but there are short-term ernment, but not the only challenge that
prospects like reviving the coal industry needs to be conquered. Such skills and expertise needed to be
and that is a quick way in,” he said. nurtured in country, with a key focus on
“The best thing that the Government broader bases for development.
“It was a thriving industry in the 1950s can do is show a very clear strategy to
and 60s, then with crude oil it got aban- growth-oriented investment in people. “Significantly the new growth is com-
doned, but those mines can be revived ing from re-pats; young, well educated
and we can have new coal-fired power Nigerians who are returning from living in
companies which could light up certain North America, Europe and elsewhere.
sectors of the country that are severely They must be supported so that the rip-
lacking energy which is required for ples that come from their work will pull in
growth. I think that the mining sector, people and create new growth nodes to
beginning with those low-hanging fruits ratchet things up,” Utomi said.
moving into other areas, is critical.”
“I believe that the kinds of policies that
Attracting foreign investment will be an will allow for more financing opportuni-
important part of building the resources ties to go down to such people, the incu-
sector, but there are hurdles for Nigeria bators, new business hubs that are being
to overcome before it is seen as an at- created will the be the anchor of that new
tractive proposition for investors. economy.”

Nigeria is Africa’s second largest trad- – Mark Andrews

Professor Patrick Utomi delivered a presentation to AAMEG members on the new business dynamics in Nigeria
PAGE 56 APRIL 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

AFRICA

Peak outcome for Ngualla

Peak Resources Ltd has suc- This was achieved through opti-
cessfully lowered the proposed misation of the project flow sheet,

capex and opex estimates for its which confirmed Peak’s selective

Ngualla rare earths project in Tan- “Alkali Roast” process allows for

zania by 10% and 18% respec- the early rejection of the majority

tively – and is anticipating further of the low-value cerium and del-

reductions. eterious iron, leading to a likely big

A recent update to the PFS, reduction in reagent costs.

completed in March 2014, reduced “These further reductions in

the capital cost from $US367 mil- capex and opex help to position

lion to $US330 million, including a Ngualla as one of the world’s low-

25% contingency. est cost rare earth projects and we

Peak expects a number of capi- look forward to the completion of

tal cost items from the revised esti- the BFS and subsequent develop-

mate – including power plant gen- Peak has reduced the capex and opex estimates for its ment of the project,” Peak manag-

sets ($U8 million), accommodation Ngualla rare earths project in Tanzania ing director Darren Townsend said.

camp ($US12 million) and mining The project mine life was also

fleet ($US10 million) – will be reviewed The current capital costs include a optimised to 31 years, based on the high-

as part of the upcoming BFS, due for re- base-case assumption of a European grade weathered bastnaesite zone which

lease later this year. Union-based refinery to produce high- comprises only 22% of the total Ngualla

Some or all of these costs could be purity separated products. Preliminary resource of 195mt @ 2.26% rare earth

moved into operating costs through engineering work has been completed at oxides for contained 4.4mt.

BOOT (build, own, operate, transfer) several potential sites. Ngualla has proven and probable re-

contracts, along with a number of other Operating costs were reduced by serves of 20.7mt @ 4.54% rare earth

potential cost-saving opportunities cur- $US21 million per annum to $US97 mil- oxides.

rently being examined. lion per annum.

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2016 PAGE 57

REGIONAL ROUNDUP LATIN AMERICA

Former Vale chief dies, 56oger Agnelli, the Brazilian class family in São Paulo,
Brazil’s largest city, Ag-
Rbanker who turned Vale SA nelli studied economics at
Fundação Armando Alvares
into the world’s No. 1 iron ore Penteado in his hometown.
producer, died on March 19 in

“a plane crash. He was 56.
He was a visionary He began his career at
that corporate

Brazil will miss badly.

Agnelli, his wife and two

children were among seven killed when and said his 10-year tenure at Bradesco’s corporate fi-

his Comp Air 9 turboprop monoplane the company had intensified its nance and investment bank-

slammed into two homes around 3:20 global expansion and transfor- ing division. His knack for

pm local time, minutes after taking off mation into a major global player. engineering complex deals
from an airport in northern São Paulo, Known for his discipline and Roger Agnelli earned him praise from his

authorities said. feisty nature, Agnelli clinched the bosses, who turned him into

“We have lost a Brazilian of extraor- top job at Vale in July 2001 after 19 years Bradesco’s youngest senior vice presi-

dinary entrepreneurial vision,” President as a corporate and investment banker dent at the age of 29.

Dilma Rousseff said in a statement, add- with Banco Bradesco SA BBDC4.SA, a At Vale, he implemented a turnaround

ing that Agnelli had devoted his career major Vale shareholder. based on tough goals. During his stint,

to big Brazilian companies and shown He instilled a culture of meritocracy revenues rose 13-fold and capital spend-

commitment to the development of his that helped make Vale Brazil’s No. 1 ing soared more than 20-fold.

country. exporter. To friends and foes, the key to “I get paid to produce results, and the

Sources said Agnelli was travelling to Agnelli’s success was accurately predict- results are there, aren’t they?” Agnelli

a wedding ceremony in Rio de Janeiro ing the rise of China as a major miner- told Valor Econômico newspaper in an

with his wife Andréia, son João, daughter als consumer, a crucial wager in turning interview in 2010.

Anna Carolina, and their two spouses. Vale, a former bloated state-controlled However, running Vale as a multina-

The weather was clear at the time of the firm, into a global powerhouse. tional put him on a collision course with

crash. “He was a visionary that corporate Brazil’s ruling Workers’ Party, which

In a statement, Vale said it learned of Brazil will miss badly,” Lawrence Pih, wanted Vale to shift from exporting raw

Agnelli´s death with “immense sadness” who for decades ran flour mill Grupo minerals to more value-added products

Pacífico SA and such as steel and fertilizers to create

LATIN sat on the board at more jobs.
the São Paulo Fed- The Government has influence in the
AMERICA eration of Industries
with Agnelli, said. company through indirect stakes held by
state pension funds.
In a Harvard Busi-
ness Review’s rank- Agnelli clashed with former President
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for firing 2,000

ing of the world’s workers in the wake of the GFC of 2008.

29-30 May 2013, Sydney best-performing Months later, he accused members of
chief executive of- Lula’s left-leaning party of trying to install

ficers published in loyalists at Vale and seek a bigger say in

February 2013, Ag- key decisions.

nelli came fourth, His brash style upset clients in Europe

only behind Apple and Japan, as well as regional govern-

Inc’s Steve Jobs, ments and politicians that were crucial

Amazon.com Inc’s for a company that depended on govern-

Jeff Bezos and ment permits, according to former em-

Samsung Group’s ployees who asked not to be named.

Yun Jong-Yong. He Lula’s successor, Rousseff, stepped

was the top mining up pressure on Agnelli and succeeded in

chief in the 100-ex- pushing him out in May 2011, just months

ecutive ranking. after she took office.

Agnelli earned Rousseff and Lula, who she named

the spot in the Har- last week as her chief of staff, are facing

The CD-Rom of Paydirt’s 2015 vard ranking after a growing corruption probe at state firms.
racking up a con- Vale has not been named in the probe

Latin America Downunder Conference solidated return nor is it under investigation.
ORDER NOW! of 934% during Following his departure from Vale, Ag-
his tenure at Vale,
nelli founded AGN Participações Ltda

whose market value and teamed up with Grupo BTG Pactual

CD-Rom for non-conference delegates – $175 (inc.GST) more than doubled SA in a mining JV.
CD-Rom for conference delegates – $115 (inc.GST) in the period.
– Guillermo Parra-Bernal, Tatiana
Phone (+61) 8 9321 0355 or email [email protected] Born on May 3, Bautzer, Reuters
1959 to a middle-

PAGE 58 APRIL 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

LATIN

AMERICA

17-18 May 2016, Perth

$A1,200

INC. GST

Visiting Delegations to date:

Republic of Ecuador, keynote presentation by HE Mr. Javier Cordova Unda, Minister of Mines
Republic of Venezuela, keynote presentation by HE. Mr Richard Lozada, Vice Minister for Mining
Republic of Colombia, keynote presentations from Santiago Angel Urdinola, President of Colombian Mining Association

and Ms Silvana Habib-Daza, President of National Mining Agency of Colombia
United Mexican States, keynote presentation by Mario Alfonso Cantú, General Coordinator of Mining (TBC)

Republic of Cuba, keynote presentation by Yuri Viamontes Lazo, Vice Minister of Energy and Mines
Argentine Republic, keynote to be confirmed
Republic of Chile, keynote to be confirmed

Conference sponsors
& supporters to date:

www.latinamericadownunder.com

To present, exhibit or attend as a delegate please contact
Melita Fogarty on (+61) 8 9321 0355 or email [email protected]

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Troy happy with single-minded
Guyana focus

Troy Resources Ltd is more Troy is happy to have the newly minted Karouni operation in Guyana as its sole focus
than comfortable to have its
focus narrowed to one country, and the closure of the Andorinhas gold the end of April 2015. The project has
especially when that country is mine in northern Brazil. since been sold to Anfield Nickel Corp
one of the last untouched gold for $US2.4 million with a further $US1
exploration hotspots in the world. “There was a huge amount of pressure million to be paid following production of
to get Karouni up and running before the 20,000oz gold or by February 2017.
The sale of the company’s wheels fell off in Argentina. The compa-
Casposo silver-gold project in Ar- ny could see the writing on the wall there; The deals leave Karouni as the com-
gentina means the only operating the political situation meant it was hard to pany’s only producing asset. The mine
asset under Troy’s control is the make any money and the fall in the silver was built for a total capital outlay of $133
newly minted Karouni operation price made it even more difficult.” million, with Purvis saying the 101,000
in the South American nation of ozpa operation would be one of the only
Guyana. For some companies, Martin Purvis gold mines in recent times to achieve pay
the lack of geographic diversity back within 12 months. The company de-
would be a concern but such is In early March, Troy announced it clared commercial production in Febru-
Troy’s confidence in Guyana that would sell its 51% interest in Casposo to ary with full ramp-up to 1 mtpa set to be
it sees no problem with a single fellow Australian company Austral Gold achieved in March.
jurisdiction focus. Ltd for $US3 million over 12 months with
the option to acquire the remainder in Troy has established its reputation on
“We think Guyana is a compa- subsequent instalments. building short life, low-cost mines for
ny-maker in a very real sense of minimal capital outlay but Purvis said the
the phrase,” Troy managing di- In Brazil, the company was able to fund company’s footprint in Guyana offered
rector Martin Purvis told Paydirt. the $3 million closure liabilities at An- the opportunity for more longevity.
“It has unique geological characteristics dorinhas by processing low-grade stock-
and has been largely unexplored using piled ore and garimpeiro tailings until “Establishing Karouni has put us in
modern techniques but it sits in a re- a great position for the future,” he said.
gion with an incredible track-record from “We have only really scratched the sur-
small-scale mining.” face of Guyana’s potential and we never
went there to just set up a three to four
Troy poured first gold at Karouni in year mine.”
November 2015, two months behind
schedule but still only nine months after Prior to the start-up of Karouni and
the company began construction. Pur- Guyana Goldfields Inc’s Aurora gold
vis, who joined the company in Septem- mine last year, the Omai mine had been
ber 2014, after the decision to mine had the country’s only commercial operation
been taken, said he had been surprised despite it being host to a prolific small-
by how close the company had got to its scale mining sector for more than four
construction deadline. centuries. The gold majors had previ-
ously been unable to establish them-
“I am very proud,” he said. “When you selves in a country where a legacy of
set the bar so high in expectations, get-
ting this close is tremendous. The origi-
nal target had been set before I joined
the company and I thought it was too
ambitious when I started. The company
only mobilised key equipment in Febru-
ary 2015 because we didn’t receive the
mining licence until then. We then had
the first change in government for 23
years which slowed things down but we
pushed on and eventually achieved first
gold pour in November.

“It is still an incredible achievement to
complete the project in a remote part of
the jungle with little infrastructure in a
country we’d been in for less than two
years.”

Purvis said the production start-up had
been aggressive to allow Karouni to fill
the gap left by Casposo’s winding down

PAGE 60 APRIL 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

LATIN AMERICA

Production start-up at Karouni has been aggressive to compensate for the gaps left by Casposo in Argentina
winding down and the closure of Andorinhas in Brazil

small, fragmented tenement ownership tury or more worth of discoveries but vanced exploration model and the best
has been created by historic artisanal they are still making new discoveries,” understanding of gold mineralisation in
mining. Purvis said. “In Guyana, there is virtually the country so we are ahead of the game
no information because people haven’t and because we are small and nimble we
“There was a feeling it was too tough had access to the underlying geology can move things along quickly.
to pull a decent exploration package and structural maps are the key to find-
together because the size of the tene- ing gold in Guyana.” “However, early stage exploration is
ments make Guyana look like a compli- always more about thinking exploration
cated jigsaw. But Azimuth [the company With its focus largely on building Ka- rather than doing exploration. You need
Troy acquired to secure Karouni] did a lot rouni, Troy itself has undertaken little to use smart geologists to filter out the
of work in this regard and we now have exploration but Purvis said attention was noise and focus on the most logical tar-
control of a lot of ground,” Purvis said. now turning to the next stage of the com- gets. When you’ve got 60km of shears
pany’s growth. you have got to be selective,” Purvis said.
The 1,000sq km land package is the
largest Troy has ever controlled and the “We haven’t spent a lot of time on ex- “We have been through 18 months of
company is now preparing to work out ploration other than infill drilling but now working out how to tackle the different
exactly how it tackles such an asset. we have to step back and start expand- environments in the country, how to work
While the company believes there is la- ing our regional programmes,” he said. in the jungle and what the signature we
tent potential in the country, the lack of “Exploration will be split between looking are searching for look like.”
previous exploration and dearth of geo- for mine life extensions around the head-
logical data available makes target se- frame at Karouni – either along strike or – Dominic Piper
lection more difficult. underneath the Hicks and Smarts pits –
and testing regional potential.
“In places like Western Australia there
is an endless amount of data and a cen- “We believe we have the most ad-

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AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2016 PAGE 61

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Red alert for RTG at Mabilo

RTG Mining Inc stocks a near-term devel-
soared last month af- opment opportunity,

ter a feasibility study on however, a timeline to

the Mabilo copper-gold first DSO production

project, Philippines, was was not given at the

released to market. time of print.

RTG’s share price “The feasibility

reached 60.5c/share the study demonstrates

day the full feasibility study the potential for Ma-

was announced and at the bilo to outperform,

time of print was trading at specifically reinforc-

54c/share. ing the resilience of

Investors have taken the project despite

kindly to RTG’s two-stage current commodity

strategy to production at prices. The project is

Mabilo which will start with RTG has worked hard to complete a DFS at Mabilo, south-east Luzon, both high grade and

the DSO component. less than 15 months from the maiden resource announcement low cost, underpinning

Capex for the DSO the robust economics

oxide operation has been estimated stage two of $US161.4 million, including presented in the feasibility study, includ-

at $US17.4 million to produce 34,700t $US14.8 million of recoverable tax. ing a 33% IRR (43.6% with only a 10%

copper equivalent and 144,000oz gold RTG is confident that the DSO start- lift in commodity prices) and an equiva-

equivalent at an average cost of $US62/t up can begin to generate early cash flow lent operating cost of $US0.80/lb copper

($US0.42c/lb and $US224/oz) generat- four to five months after permits are fi- equivalent or $US425/oz gold equivalent

ing net operating cash after tax of $US68 nalised. for concentrate production,” the compa-

million. With a probable reserve base of ny said in an announcement.

The study was based on prices for 7.792mt @ 2.04 g/t gold, 1.95% copper, Based on a treatment rate of 1 mtpa,

copper of $US5,000/t, $US1,200/oz gold 8.79 g/t silver and 45.5% iron contain- estimated production from stage two

and $US50/t iron ore which projects IRR ing gold equivalent before recoveries of plant operations are 38,300t copper

(after tax) of 33.4% and a two-and-a-half 1.3 moz @ 5.26 g/t and 316,00t @ 4.1% equivalent and 160,000oz gold equiva-

year payback for the plant obligation in copper equivalent, RTG sees Mabilo as lent.

Four new smelters for Indonesia in 2016

Indonesia hopes four new smelters will Indonesia’s new smelters will process nickel, smelters, in hope of helping them build
be completed in 2016, a mining ministry alumina and lead domestic processing facilities, Gatot
official said last month, as low commodity said, adding that Freeport’s $US530
prices continue to create financial prob- earlier smelter target for this year. million smelter bond was still being dis-
lems for the mining industry and shrink Indonesia’s mineral export rules have cussed.
government returns.
been a flashpoint between the Govern- “The $US530 million isn’t regulated. It
Indonesia banned metal ore shipments ment, which is constitutionally bound to was just a way for us to control their seri-
in early 2014 to encourage firms to build maximise returns from resources and ousness,” he said.
smelters and shift exports from raw ma- companies including US miner Freeport
terials to higher-value finished metals. McMoRan Inc. Freeport was forced to halt overseas
But the ban cost the country, the world’s shipments last month after the Govern-
top nickel ore exporter at the time and a New rules issued by the Government ment demanded the company first pay a
major supplier of bauxite, billions of dol- in February allow mining companies $530 million deposit for a smelter before
lars in lost revenue to revise the capacity of their planned it renewed the permit.

Dozens of smelter projects have been The Government is still reviewing the
delayed, many of them in nickel, as a re- $US1.7 billion tag Freeport put on a stake
sult of the current downturn in commod- in its local unit, he said.
ity prices, and only five nickel smelters of
a targeted 12 were completed last year. “We need to agree on parameters
first.”
“In 2016 we hope four additional smelt-
ers will be operational,” Coal and Min- The Government’s non-tax revenue
erals Director General Bambang Gatot from mining missed its target by 43% in
told reporters. The smelters will process 2015 and could remain flat in 2016, also
nickel, alumina and lead. below target, he said.

The latest figure is around half of an – Fergus Jensen, Reuters

PAGE 62 APRIL 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

ASIA

India looks to cook with Australia

Love or hate Australia’s Watkinson said.
version of MasterChef, Since being in the role, Go-

the fact is the reality cook- yal has undertaken a range of

ing show is the most watched initiatives to create momen-

programme of its kind in In- tum and transparency in the

dia. mining sector, including tak-

And while that is good for ing back mining leases and

the broadcaster’s ratings, auctioning them to suitors in

perceptions of Australia and an online, transparent sys-

what the country can offer in tem.

a social and leisure context The mining lease auction

are also portrayed. was played out in real time,

This all builds capacity for where bidders from around

Australia to strengthen its the world could track tene-

reputation in a country that is ments and bid for them.

quickly emerging as a lead- Watkinson said it was ini-

ing global economy. tiatives like that which inter-

“We are seen as a desir- national players would leave

able place to live, study and more confident with invest-

our sporting ties bind us to- Minister of State Independent Charge for Power, Coal, New and ment in the Indian market.

gether in a way that really Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal. Photo: George Makrigany Currently there are in ex-

doesn’t happen with other in- cess of 20 Australian sub-

ternational competitors. All those things to-business linkages across six different sidiaries operating in India, which is

can be leveraged from,” Austrade senior areas, as well hold energy/security dia- underdone compared to the scale of

trade commissioner Nicola Watkinson logue with [Australian Resources] Minis- opportunity in the country, according to
told Paydirt.
ter Josh Frydenberg, which looks at the Watkinson.

Currently there are more than 500,000 government-to-government linkages in “I think that reflects that until fairly re-

Indians living in Australia – the fastest the energy space,” Watkinson said. cently companies were busy at home

growing micro-population down under – Goyal made it clear that coal is on the and there was lots of good work opportu-

while at least 50,000 Indians are listed as agenda for India, as there is no way of nities available in Australia and perhaps

studying in Australia. delivering on public ex- there was not a need to

Meanwhile, Australia consistently pectations of power sup- look extensively at ex-

ranks as a holiday destination of choice ply without having coal port opportunities,” Wat-

for Indians. as the significant part of kinson said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s the energy mix. “If you have a forward

visit in November may not have been for Also looking after the look at where the global

leisure, however, his presence in coun- new and renewable en- market is going, clearly

try – the first by an Indian PM in over 20 ergy portfolio, Goyal is India is going to be one

years – further enhanced relations be- keen to tap into Aus- of the top markets in

tween Australia and India. tralia’s competitive tech- terms of mining over the

“I think he was seen as very credible, nologies in that space. next decade and further

business-focused and reform-minded However, no matter how into the future. We would

and during those discussions one of the quickly the new and re- be saying that we cer-

things he emphasised was the desire newable energy sector tainly think it is time for

for India and Australia to have a much is growing, it still won’t Australian companies to

stronger tie-up in the area of mining be- enable India to meet its Austrade senior trade commis- really have another look
cause Australia is globally recognised as energy requirements. sioner Nicola Watkinson at India, see what chang-
a genuine centre of world-class excel- es have taken place over
Therefore, coal and its

lence in mining,” Watkinson said. technologies will be at the last 18 months since

Since Modi’s visit last year, a number the forefront on India’s strategy to fulfil its the Government has come into power

of dignitaries have come to Australia, in- growing power demand. and see whether it might be an opportu-

cluding Minister of State with Independ- “That has a few elements and part of nity to look at a market entry strategy to

ent Charge for Power, Coal, New and that is supply of coal from Australia and start to capture the opportunities that are

Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal. we know there are some big projects building in the market over here from the

Goyal, a leading minister in Modi’s under way that are looking to be able to more transparent systems that are being

Government, was tailed to Australia by work in that space, including the Adani developed at government level.”

a delegation of over 45 business repre- project. Equally, he [Goyal] saw many – Mark Andrews
sentatives, plus private sector organisa- opportunities for Australian METS com-

tions in India’s mining and gas space. panies to be able to come to Indian mar-

“The aim of the visit was to hold a se- kets to be able to support the develop-

ries of roundtables to explore business- ment of the coal sector here in India,”

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2016 PAGE 63

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Neometals heads to Europe

Neometals Ltd has one eye metals’ gold and nickel JV
on shipping lithium from projects including Forrestan-

its Mt Marion lithium project ia, Lake Johnston and Queen

in Western Australia and the Victoria Rocks.

other on Europe. Terms of the deal also in-

The company’s entry into clude Hannans completing a

Europe will come via a strate- $1.25 million capital raising

gic collaboration agreement with Neometals underwriting

with Hannans Reward Ltd, the final $250,000.

whereby the latter’s unlisted Upon completing the rais-

subsidiary – Scandinavian ing, Hannans will be funded

Resources (SCR) – will be with about $2.5 million for

demerged. work programmes planned

Subject to shareholder up until 2018.

approval, SCR will be de- “This strategic collabo-

merged by Hannans making ration with Neometals is a

a pro-rata issue of shares fantastic outcome for Han-

to its shareholders, while nans shareholders,” Hannans

Neometals has agreed to managing director Damian

subscribe for 62.5 million Hicks said.

shares at 4c/share to raise “The demerger of our

$250,000, with 31.25 million Swedish projects into a sepa-

options in Hannans exercis- rate unlisted vehicle will en-

able at the same price within able a dedicated team to take

the next two years. advantage of the significant

Neometals will become the opportunities we are see-

largest shareholder in SCR ing in European lithium. In

with 13.5% of the company. Neometals – a proven lithium

SCR and Neometals will Neometals has taken an interest in Hannans’ Scandinavian assets project developer and soon-

enter into a lithium knowl- to-be producer – we have

edge and technical assistance agree- Meanwhile, Hannans will exit Sweden found the ideal partner which will enable

ment to identify and advance lithium op- and return to its roots of gold and nickel Scandinavian Resources to accelerate

portunities in Europe. exploration by assuming control of Neo- this strategy.”

Eldorado Gold jumps hurdle at Olympias

Canadian miner Eldorado Gold Corp’s ki. It warned it would do the same at its trate will be produced via a flotation pro-
Greek unit Hellas Gold has been Olympias mine if it did not secure neces- cess, with annual gold output for the first
granted a license by Greece’s environ- sary permits by the end of March. four full years of production forecast to
ment ministry for its Olympias mine, re- be 60,725oz at cash costs of $30/oz, in-
moving a hurdle to develop its project in The permit granted in late March al- cdluing by-product credits.
the north of the country. lows Eldorado to set up a processing
plant in Olympias, which is crucial for the Meanwhile, Hellas Gold is still awaiting
Eldorado had been in a dispute with development of the mine. another license for the Skouries mine,
the Greek Government over plans to which will determine whether construc-
develop gold mines in a forested area in “The project can now continue so that tion work will restart at the site. Eldorado
northern Greece, with the leftist govern- from the first quarter of 2017 the ore that halted the Skouries project in January,
ment voicing environmental concerns will be produced at the mine will be pro- laying off some 500 workers.
over the project. cessed at the Olympias facility,” Hellas
Gold said in a statement. It has invested about $700 million
The Government revoked Eldorado’s to develop the Skouries and Olympias
permit in August over environmental A total of 16,396oz gold was produced mines since 2012 and plans to invest an-
tests on the project but Greece’s top ad- from the retreatment of tailings, an oper- other $1 billion in the projects.
ministrative court annulled the Govern- ation that has been ongoing since 2012
ment’s decision in January. and scheduled to end at the end of Q1 – Angeliki Koutantou, and George
2016. Georgiopoulos, Reuters
Tensions came to a head that month,
when Eldorado said Athens was delaying Phase II of Olympias will involve un-
the necessary permits and halted con- derground ore to be processed through
struction of its Skouries mine in Halkidi- at concentrator at 385,000 tpa.

A lead-silver, zinc and gold concen-

PAGE 64 APRIL 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

EUROPE

Energia fast-tracks Gorno DFS

Energia Minerals Ltd will pro- Energia will release a scoping study on Gorno this month
duce a DFS on Gorno just six
months after releasing the first 9m @ 13.5% zinc, 4.2% lead and 75 g/t of about 4mt which we couldn’t really
economics for its promising zinc silver and 4m @ 32.3% zinc, 7.9% lead verify, but the drilling we carried out has
project in northern Italy. and 74 g/t silver. substantiated the part we have known
about around Zorzone.
A scoping study on Gorno was Energia has since announced a re-
completed at the time of print, with vised exploration target of 7-11mt @ “So we’re really just capturing all of that
the results set to be released early 7-10% zinc-lead for the entire Gorno pro- historical reserve inside our new explora-
this month. ject, up from the previous exploration tar- tion target, basically enabling us to bring
get of 3-5mt @ 7-10% zinc-lead. that into the picture as well.”
Energia managing director Kim
Robinson said the study would “The Zorzone deposit has remained Further drilling campaigns at Gorno
contain “more advanced” results pretty well as we expected, but what the were ongoing at the time of print.
than a standard scoping release, drilling programme we carried out has
allowing Gorno to be fast-tracked proven is that all the historical data is in Robinson, one of the founding direc-
through the subsequent phases of pretty good shape,” Robinson said. tors of one-time prominent zinc mining
project assessment. company Kagara Ltd, was upbeat about
“At the end of mining exercises that the future forecasts for the base metal,
“It’s going to progress pretty ENI carried out when they stopped min- predicting Gorno would be well placed to
rapidly to a DFS, which we aim to ing in 1979, they had a remaining reserve take advantage of an anticipated tighten-
have completed by October,” Rob- ing market in the next few years.
inson told Paydirt. Kim Robinson
“It certainly is one of the commodities
“One thing you can say about that comes out as a lead indicator, there’s
the scoping study is it’s going to no doubt about that,” Robinson said.
be a highly robust one in that it’s a
pretty unusual situation we’ve got “Zinc prices have started to recover
up there. We’re actually in the ore- now that some of the major producers
body, we can see it. have gone out of production, with Centu-
ry and Lisheen having shipped their last
“We know we’re sitting above concentrates.
the water table so there won’t be too
many question marks about water issues “There’s been a deficit for the last three
that might develop. It’s a fairly unique years and that will accelerate going for-
orebody in that there’s no uphill haulage ward. We’re looking at a very tight market
as well.” in the zinc space for the next couple of
years, which is a great time to be going
The scoping study, completed by Jor- into the development of Gorno.”
vik Resources Pty Ltd, will incorporate
the recently announced maiden resource – Michael Washbourne
estimate for the Colonna Zorzone depos-
it of 3.87mt @ 6.1% zinc, 1.6% lead and
25 g/t silver for contained 238,000t zinc,
63,000t lead and 3.1 moz silver, using a
cut-off grade of 1% zinc.

The resource remains open both up-
dip and down-dip and includes 970,000t
@ 7% zinc, 1.9% lead and 29 g/t silver
for contained 68,000t zinc, 19,000t lead
and 900,000oz silver in the indicated cat-
egory.

“It certainly has panned out to be high-
grade, which is a very positive develop-
ment,” Robinson said.

“The other thing is there’s a lot more
silver in there than we expected, which
will provide a real benefit to the project.”

The maiden resource estimate follows
a successful underground diamond drill-
ing programme at Gorno at the back end
of last year, headlined by a standout in-
tercept of 6.1m @ 9.1% zinc, 2.3% lead
and 24 g/t silver from 6.6m, including 3m
@ 15.7% zinc, 3.8% lead and 39 g/t sil-
ver.

Other impressive intercepts included

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2016 PAGE 65

SIGNED, SEALED AND DELIVERED

Kleenheat’s EVOL LNG will supply gas to Doray’s Deflector project

EVOL LNG to supply Ausenco strengthens minerals industry.
gas to Deflector ties with Atlantic Gold With particular strengths in mining and

Kleenheat’s EVOL LNG will supply Ausenco Ltd has been confirmed as geology, Met-Chem shapes as a good fit
Doray Minerals Ltd’s Deflector gold- the preferred EPC contractor for Atlantic for DRA because of the South African
copper project with about 4,560 tpa Gold Corp’s Moose River Consolidated firm’s specialist capabilities in design
LNG from its Kwinana plant, starting this gold project in Nova Scotia, Canada. engineering, mineral processing, EPCM
month. project delivery and contract operations.
The engineering and construction firm
A 7MW dual-fuelled power station is is expected to deliver the project’s pro- Established more than 40 years ago,
currently under construction at Deflec- cessing plant and various other infra- Met-Chem has strong ties with mining
tor, 160km east of Geraldton, and will be structure for $89 million under a fixed- clients in Europe, Africa, China, India,
owned and operated by Kalgoorlie Pow- price EPC contract. North and South America.
er Systems (KPS), a subsidiary of Pacific
Energy Ltd. Negotiations as to the form and detail DRA will retain Met-Chem’s office in
of the EPC contract remained ongoing at Montréal, from which it will continue to
It will be fuelled by 30% diesel and the time of print. service clients in Québec, Eastern Can-
70% natural gas. ada, North and West Africa.
Ausenco, via the Ausenco-DF alliance,
EVOL LNG business manager Nick has been involved with the project since “DRA continues to expand its business
Rea said the company was pleased to November 2015, having completed fur- in the Americas and the acquisition of
have secured the contract during a pe- ther detailed diligence and preliminary Met-Chem is a logical next step for our
riod of historically low energy prices. engineering on the initial capex esti- growth in this region,” DRA Americas
mates for a feasibility study. chief executive Wray Carvelas said.
“Among other key innovations, the on-
site LNG storage and vaporisation facility “We are delighted to progress to the “This acquisition allows us to offer en-
will use a unique LNG vaporisation sys- next stage of the quality project and we hanced services to our existing mining
tem, where waste heat from KPS’s power look forward to continuing to work with and mineral clients and we look forward
station will be recovered to vaporise LNG Atlantic Gold over the coming months to to servicing new clients in the Ameri-
instead of traditional ambient air fin va- execute a final EPC agreement,” Ausen- cas and other regions, such as French-
porisers, making the solution more cost co chief executive Zimi Meka said. speaking Africa, with our expanded ca-
competitive,” he said. pabilities.”
DRA finds perfect fit
“By using LNG at Deflector, Doray will with Met-Chem Thunderbird BFS is go
reduce its exposure to imported diesel for Hatch
costs, avert more than 3,800t (17%) of Engineering group DRA International
carbon emissions per year compared to has agreed to acquire Met-Chem Cana- Sheffield Resources Ltd has appointed
diesel, which is equivalent to removing da Inc from UEC Technologies LLC, part leading engineering group Hatch to de-
more than 1,100 cars from the road, and of the United States Steel Corporation. liver the BFS for the Thunderbird mineral
support jobs in the local production and sands project, near Derby in Western
distribution of LNG.” Met-Chem is a consulting engineer- Australia.
ing company headquartered in Mon-
Doray managing director Allan Kelly treal that provides services including Hatch was selected for its experience
said the use of LNG would provide De- resource estimation, mine design, plan- and knowledge of the mineral sands sec-
flector with stable power and low ener- ning and processing to the metals and tor, particularly its expertise in ilmenite
gy costs throughout the initial life of the processing technology.
mine.
The BFS appointment follows the PFS

PAGE 66 APRIL 2016 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

update released last October which con- quality asset, managed by a team with RigScan, a structured methodology for
firmed Thunderbird was a strategic, high a proven track record in the successful monitoring and testing equipment, was
margin, zircon-rich asset. delivery of greenfields development,” GR trialled by Perilya in late 2015. It provides
Engineering managing director Geoff detailed service information, fault diag-
The scope of the BFS will be similar to Jones said. nosis and condition reporting.
the PFS, however, Sheffield has taken
the opportunity to capture the benefit of “We look forward to working with Vimy According to Atlas Copco service su-
higher head-grade in the project’s early on the delivery of the Mulga Rock project pervisor Adam Edwards, RigScan re-
years by further refining its two-stage DFS.” ports have helped the team at Broken
production strategy as described in the Hill easily identify the most urgent works
PFS. RigScan success at on the trucks.
Perilya’s Broken Hill
Under the new strategy, throughput “We have always provided Perilya with
will start at 7.5 mtpa and ramp up to 15 An additional seven RigScan audits were or- some form of ongoing audit which has
mtpa from the fourth year. The exact tim- dered after a successful trial of Atlas Copco’s helped inform decisions about sched-
ing of the move to 15 mtpa will be refined uling of major repairs, prioritisation of
through the BFS process, in conjunction new service methodology at Broken Hill works, general safety and equipment
with marketing initiatives, including dis- monitoring,” he said.
cussions with potential offtake partners. Perilya Ltd’s Broken Hill operation has
booked an additional seven RigScan “However, while the reporting system
“We look forward to working with Hatch audits after the successful trial of Atlas was working well enough, I guess you
and our other key consultants and stake- Copco’s new service methodology on realise how much better things can be
holders as we progress Native Title, per- one of the MT6020 trucks in its fleet. when something like RigScan comes
mitting and community engagement, in along.”
parallel with the BFS,” Sheffield manag- The miner runs a fleet of eight Atlas
ing director Bruce McFadzean said. Copco trucks, five 60t MT6020s and The audit will cover everything from
three 50t MT5020s that are supported by the most urgent critical issues to sim-
GR Engineering taps the local Atlas Copco team. The trucks ple monitoring activities using advanced
into uranium have been on site since 2010. technologies such as thermal imaging
and oil particle analysis.
Uranium hopeful Vimy Resources Ltd
has appointed GR Engineering Services To minimise downtime, most of the au-
Ltd as study manager for the Mulga Rock dits are completed during scheduled ser-
DFS. vices, while operational tasks are carried
out when the trucks are working.
Vimy has completed several phases of
work since completing the PFS last No- Broken Hill has been producing zinc
vember which will provide input into the and lead concentrate from its under-
DFS, including the first of two test pits, ground mine since 2002.
collection of 25t of ore sample from that
pit and an infill drilling programme. Downer firms for
Mount Peake contract
The Mulga Rock DFS study manager
appointment adds to GR Engineering’s Downer EDI Ltd has entered into a
growing list of recent contract wins. non-binding MoU with TNG Ltd to par-
ticipate in the development, construction
“We consider Mulga Rock to be a high and operation of the Mount Peake vana-
dium-titanium-iron project in the North-
ern Territory.

Under the terms of the MoU, both par-
ties will work together in a number of ar-
eas to identify opportunities which may
lead to Downer’s involvement as a key
development partner in the construction
and operation of Mount Peake

Potential opportunities include engi-
neering, procurement and construction
of the Mount Peake processing plant and
drilling, blasting, loading and haulage of
minerals and waste materials at site for
the life-of-mine.

TNG completed a DFS for Mount
Peake last year, confirming the project
could sustain production of 17,560 tpa
vanadium pentoxide, 236,000 tpa tita-
nium dioxide and 637,000tpa pig iron.

Other key findings included life-of-mine
net cash flow of $11.6 billion, a pre-tax
IRR of 41% and an NPV8 of $4.9 billion.

GR Engineering will serve as study manager for the Mulga Rock DFS

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2016 PAGE 67

COMINGS AND GOINGS

Former chief operating of- ment and operations and is be the non-executive chair- Minerals Ltd managing di-
ficer at Beadell Resources currently a non-executive di- man and Davey will serve rector Hamish Halliday has
Ltd Boyd Timler has been ap- rector of Kinetiko Energy Ltd. as a non-executive direc- stepped into the chair, while
pointed chief executive of Me- tor. IMX managing director Ross Williams has also joined
dusa Mining Ltd. Timler has Andrew Stewart has been Phil Hoskins will assume the the company’s board as the
also spent time as managing appointed as an execu- same role at Graphex. nominee for JV partner Emer-
director of Lumwana Mining tive director of Xanadu Mines ald Resources NL.
Company, a subsidiary of Ltd, in addition to his role as Grant Davey
Barrick Gold Corp. chief executive. Buxton Resources Ltd has
Nicholas Geddes has re- appointed Eamon Han-
Paradigm Metals Ltd has Chris Farmer has stepped signed as company sec- non as managing director.
appointed Earle Harper down from all executive retary of Timpetra Resources Hannon is a geologist who
as a non-executive director. and board roles with Finders Ltd. Wendy Dillon and Brett worked at Fortescue Metals
Meanwhile, Anthony Reilly Resources Ltd. He had been Tucker will share the role. Group Ltd for almost a dec-
has resigned as a director involved with the company ade. He has served as Bux-
and chief executive of the since 2004. Gavan Rice has resigned ton’s chief executive since
company for personal rea- as a director of New Age October 2014.
sons. Veteran fund manager Exploration Ltd.
Jim Rogers has been Robert Behets
Tony Ho has resigned from appointed a non-executive Dacian Gold Ltd has ap-
Apollo Minerals Ltd af- director of Crusader Re- pointed Ian Cochrane Robert Behets has been
ter seven years as a director sources Ltd. Rogers was the as a non-executive director. appointed a non-execu-
and past chairman. Company co-founder of the highly suc- Cochrane was widely re- tive director of Equatorial Re-
secretary Guy Robertson cessful Quantum Fund, which garded as one of Australia’s sources Ltd. Behets is a geol-
has replaced Ho on Apollo’s gained 4,200% during the leading M&A lawyers until he ogist with more than 28 years
board. 1970s and is widely recog- retired from the practice in of experience, including stints
nised as one of the first truly December 2013. with Mantra Resources Ltd,
Clay Gordon international funds. Papillion Resources Ltd and
John Banning has resigned Berkeley Energia Ltd. Behets
Primary Gold Ltd has ap- Mining Projects Group Ltd as a director of Consolidat- also recently joined the board
pointed key shareholders has appointed experi- ed Tin Mines Ltd. Ralph De of WCP Resources Ltd, re-
Garry Mills, Tony Patrizi and enced mining executive Ian Lacey will assume the role of placing long-serving director
Evan Cranston to its board as Finch as its new chairman. managing director in addition Simon O’Loughlin.
part of a company restructure. Finch is also the chairman of to his duties as co-chairman.
Founding managing direc- Tyranna Resources Ltd, the Troy Resources Ltd has
tor Clay Gordon has stepped principal vendor of the Pilbara Neil Porter has been ap- appointed Fred Grimwade
down after three years in the lithium-gold project being ac- pointed non-executive as chairman. Grimwade has
role. quired by MPJ. director of Horseshoe Metals been acting in the role since
Ltd. Porter founded and oper- last July, having served as
John Hodder has been ap- Ian Finch ates two logistics and supply non-executive director since
pointed a non-executive companies which service the 2010.
director of Regal Resources Richard Goodmanson will mining and industrial sectors.
Ltd. Hodder is the principal of not seek re-election to the
mining-focused private equity board of Rio Tinto Ltd at the Sofia Bianchi has resigned
firm Tembo Capital. It is envis- company’s AGM next month. as a non-executive direc-
aged he will remain a director Goodmanson has served tor of Alchemy Resources Ltd
until financing is carried out to as a non-executive director after four years on the com-
complete the Kalongwe DFS. since December 2004. pany’s board.

Windimurra Vanadium Ltd IMX Resources Ltd spinout Alan Campbell has re-
has appointed James Graphex Mining Ltd has ap- signed as non-executive
Searle as managing director. pointed Stephen Dennis and chairman of Renaissance
Searle has 34 years of experi- Grant Davey to the board of Minerals Ltd due to his re-
ence in exploration, develop- the new company. Dennis will location overseas. Venture

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LEFTFIELD

Bacteria link to platinum find

The discovery of the bacteria in these pro- a technique known as next generation
role played by bacteria cesses. This improved sequencing.

in the formation of plati- bio-geochemical un- Searching for specific micro-organ-
isms associated with PGMs could guide
num in surface environ- derstanding is not only exploration companies to new deposits
under the surface, he said.
ments could have major important from a scien-
“It is very similar to when police look
implications for the future tific perspective but we for a suspect. They find a cigarette butt
somewhere and extract the DNA and
exploration of the precious hope will also lead to then they get a fingerprint and they can
match it to the suspect. In very simple
metal. new and better ways of terms we can do the same with microbial
communities in soil sediments,” Dr Reith
Australian scientists, exploring for these met- said.

led by the University of als,” Dr Reith said. “If there’s interest from industry we can
then extend that research into finding
Adelaide, have linked “One of the difficul- tools for exploration.”

specialised bacterial com- ties with finding depos- The study, published in the journal
Nature Geoscience, investigated PGMs
munities found in biofilms its of platinum is that from Brazil, Colombia and Tasmania.

on the grains of PGMs at we need to understand The researchers included groups from
three separate locations Australian researchers have the exploration sig- Monash University, Mineral Resources
around the world. Tasmania, University of Queensland,
discovered a link between nals that we get and The University of Western Australia,
Dr Frank Reith, senior bacteria and platinum deposits we don’t know exactly RMIT and the Federal Institute for Geo-
sciences and Natural Resources, Ger-
lecturer at the University how platinum travels in many.

of Adelaide’s School of Biological Sci- earth surface environments and what the

ences and visiting researcher at CSIRO mechanisms are that are involved.

Land and Water, said finding new depos- “What we were trying to understand in

its of PGMs was becoming increasingly this study is that biological mechanisms

difficult due to a limited understanding of can be involved in the transformation of

the processes that affected the way they that platinum in certain environments.”

were cycled through surface environ- Dr Reith said the research could allow

ments. the development of a different style of

“This research reveals the key role of exploration using biological entities and

INDEX

Adani 46 Emmerson 13 Medusa 68 Rio Tinto 6, 53, 68
Alchemy 68 Metal Bank 50 Rox 9
Allied Gold 20 Energia 65 Metallica 53 RTG
Anfield Nickel 60 Metals of Africa 62
Anglo American Equatorial Potash 45 Metals X 5 Sheffield
Apollo Minerals 7 Mincor 8 Sibanye 44, 66-67
Archer 68 Equatorial Resources 68 Mineral Resources 9 Silver Lake 7
Atlantic Gold 38 Mining Projects 17 Stavely
Austral Gold 66 Evolution 8, 13, 48, 50 Minotaur 68 St Barbara 49
Avenira 60 Marmota 39 Superior 49
43 Exxaro 7 22 20
Talga 52
Finders 68 Teck
Fortescue 17, 68 Timpetra 5
Freeport TNG 9
62 Triton 68
Troy 67
Bannerman 54 Glencore 7 Neometals 64 Tyranna 4, 5, 38
Barrick 48, 68 Guyana Goldfields 60 60-61, 68
BC Iron New Age 68 Vale 33, 68
Beadell 17 Valence
Berkeley 68 Newcrest 20, 50 Venture 17, 58
BHP Billiton 68 Vimy 4, 5, 38
Buxton 7, 15, 41 Hannans 64 Northern Star 8
68 Havilah 37 Waterberg Coal 68
Highfield 40-41 OceanaGold 20 Windimurra 67
Horseshoe 68 Oz Minerals 27, 31-33, 39 WCP
WPG 7
Carpentaria 12 Iluka 30 Panoramic 9 68
Centrex 44 IMX 68 Paradigm 68 Xanadu 68
Chevron 28 Investigator 35 Peak 57 19-25
Consolidated Tin 68 Iron Road 36 Perilya 67
Crusader 68 Ivanhoe 50 Pilbara Minerals 16 68
Plymouth 45
Dacian 68 Kibaran 5 Primary Gold 68
Kinetiko 68
Diatreme 52 Kingsgate 19-23, 25
Kitchener 49
Diversified 19, 22 Queensland Nickel 46

Doray 66

Eldorado 64 La Mancha 49 Regal 68
Elemental 42, 45 Lincoln 5 Renaissance 68
Emerald Resgen
68 Resolute 7
20

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